EPHRATAH — Members of the Royal Mountain Moonlighters were ready to remove snowmobiling signage on Saturday, a routine step in March.
But then snow arrived.
“I said, ‘Well, I don’t want to pull the signs, because it’s going to be a pain in the butt, so let’s just ride it and clear it,’” said club president Jim Johnson. “Even though the gates are closed, people enter our trail system from other areas.”
A number of regional snowmobile clubs allowed access to trail networks while treating Saturday’s winter blast — six days into spring — as the last hurrah of an otherwise drab season.
Portions of Fulton and Montgomery counties were blanketed with more than one foot of snow. This was dovetailed with a thick coating of ice, which resulted in power outages across the Albany area.
Snowmobilers shred the trails in the village of Mayfield on Monday, March 25, 2024.
Warm weather returned on Monday. By Tuesday, temperatures are expected to climb up into the upper 40s and by Wednesday, it could hover above 50 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Albany. Light showers are expected mid-week.
Southern Adirondack Snowmobile Association President David Jones wasn’t anticipating the snow to stay.
“We didn’t go out to groom the trails or anything like that just because it’s not worth bringing the equipment out for two days for the wear and tear,” Jones said.
A snowmobile trail in the village of Mayfield on Monday, March 25, 2024.
The Mayfield-based club opened up all but one five-mile trail on Tolmantown Road, which has been continuously closed for the last two years due a lack of snow needed to keep it stable.
So far this year, the 28-mile trail network has only opened briefly on three separate occasions.
“I’ve been president of the club for almost six years and this is the worst season that we’ve had as far as that goes,” Jones said. “We just never got the snow.”
Typically, local clubs determine trail availability based on hunting risks, landowner agreements and weather conditions.
A sign for a snowmobile trail in the village of Mayfield on Monday, March 25, 2024.
The nearby Nick Stoner Trailers shut down its Caroga-based network for the season in early March due to the state Department of Environmental Conservation closing down mud gates and unstable riding conditions.
“It doesn’t matter how much snow we get over night, trails will remain closed,” the group wrote on Facebook. “There is no base, the ground is soft and the ice is preparing to come off the lakes.”
Caroga lies some 12 miles from Fulton County’s northernmost trail point, a hamlet just below Oregon Mountain in Stratford near the border of Hamilton County.
Collectively, there are 13 entry points on the border of Hamilton, Herkimer, Saratoga and Montgomery counties. The bulk of the connectors are to the south.
A snowmobile trail sign on state Highway 30 in the village of Mayfield on Monday, March 25, 2024.
In the low-elevation Mohawk Valley, groups received even less snow. The Town of Florida Snowmobile Club first opened its trails “unofficially” on Saturday, according to president Stephen Viele.
“The reason I didn’t officially open is because every club around us stayed closed and if I posted open then everybody would have been on the trail,” said Viele.
A bevy of riders came out late Saturday around the south side of the trails and Viele saw two families out on Sunday. From there, he expects the 2023-24 riding season to reach a final end.
“It’s been real unfortunate,” Viele said. “I mean, I never even took out my sled and I’m the president.”
The Town of Florida Snowmobile Club has remained active with fundraisers despite facing a mostly snowless winter. The group plans on holding a raffle and pancake breakfast on April 7.